No, the <!DOCTYPE html> declaration is not an HTML tag. There are many type of HTML e.g. HTML 4.01 Strict, HTML 4.01 Transitional, HTML 4.01 Frameset, XHTML 1.0 Strict, XHTML 1.0 Transitional, XHTML 1.0 Frameset, XHTML 1.1 etc. So, <!DOCTYPE html> is used to instruct the web browser about the HTML page.
